Major topics discussed were: present situation of fishery statistical data collection in the CECAF region with a case study; fisheries data and their transformation into information for basic fisheries management; review of the present state of exploitation of stocks and management requirements; and future scientific work in the region.
The fourth meeting of the FAO/CECAF Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish – Subgroup South was held in Elmina, Ghana from 12-20 September 2018. The overall objective of the Working Group is to contribute to the improved management of small pelagic resources in West Africa through the assessment of the state of the stocks and fisheries in order to ensure sustainable use of these resources for the benefit of coastal countries. The species assessed by the Working Group were: sardinella (Sardinella aurita and Sardinella maderensis), bonga (Ethmalosa fimbriata), anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae and Decapterus rhonchus), and other Carangidae, in the region between the northern border of Guinea-Bissau and the southern border of Angola. La quatrième réunion du Groupe de travail FAO/COPACE sur l’évaluation des petits pélagiques – Sous-groupe Sud, s’ets tenue à Elmina, Ghana, du 12 au 20 septembre 2018. L’objectif général du Groupe de travail est d’améliorer la gestion des ressources en petits pélagiques en Afrique de l’Ouest grâce à l’évaluation de l’état des stocks et des pêcheries de façon à assurer une utilisation durable de ces ressources au bénéfice des pays côtiers. Les espèces évaluées par le Groupe de travail sont les suivantes: les sardinelles (Sardinella aurita et t Sardinella maderensis), l’ethmalose (Ethmalosa fimbriata), l’anchois (Engraulis encrasicolus) et les chinchards (Trachurus trecae et Decapterus rhonchus) et autres carangidés, dans la région située entre la frontière nord de la Guinée-Bissau et la frontière sud de l’Angola.
The complexity of ecosystems forms perhaps the greatest challenge for natural science. Even the first step to comprehensive analysis, namely a survey of the participating species, often forms a major obstacle. This makes it understandable that ecologists try to abstract general principles from the interrelationships of the multitude of species for use in their efforts to investigate ecosystem dynamics. Such 'unifying concepts' were the main theme of the 'First International Congress of Ecology' organized in The Hague in September 1974 by the International Association of Ecology (INTECOL), under the auspices of the Division of Environmental Biology of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS). This book contains the papers presented at the plenary sessions of the Congress and a summary of the discussions engendered by them. At the Congress over 800 ecologists from many countries, representing diverse disciplines such as limnology, botany, zoology, microbiology, agriculture, met together for a week. The study of ecosystem dynamics depends on mutual understanding and close cooperation, and to stimulate an integrated approach a number of main speakers were invited to contribute papers on notions such as energy flow, productivity, diversity, stability and maturity from different points of view. These invited papers were presented at the morning plenary sessions, followed by discussions.
